Unconventional, Unsettling, and Possibly Insightful

Tag Archives: movie reviews

First of all, Happy Father’s day to all the fathers out there! To celebrate my dad (who is my best pal) and I went to see Edge of Tomorrow. Now I prefer Disney or artsy-fartsy coming of age dramas to action movies, which usually make me yawn, but I have to say, this one got me interested.

Or maybe it was just Tom Cruise. Is it a coincidence that the only action movies I like have Tom Cruise? Probably not, but hear me out for a minute.

As many before me have pointed out, the beginning of this movie was boring. Canned action movie banter, all of that. But somewhere along the way, between the impressive visuals, the mysterious heroine, Tom Cruise, and an above average concept, you started to care about the fate of the human race.

It was like a mash up of Groundhog Day and War of the Worlds, with generous helpings of warfare and mechanical monster battles.

What I liked about this movie was that you didn’t always want to be Tom Cruise. He was kind of a coward in a lot of the movie. He came through, of course, but I still wouldn’t be willing to trade my dresses for a robot suit anytime soon. It wasn’t just an endless succession of choreography and punches and spandex, but you saw him struggle, you saw him wriggle a little in his very unpleasant circurstances.

So if you want to see an interesting twist on what could have been a completely ridiculous action flick, see this movie. You may ponder the blurred lines between good and evil for a moment in between action sequences.

Rating: a very solid 3.5 out of 5 burritos

Rating based on how much this movie contradicts basic Christian values: I have decided that that is too hard to quantify, too lazy to even try.

The next installment of the popular teen-dystopian series, based on the novels by Suzanne Collins is out, in case you’ve been living under a rock, or you just don’t care. If you fall under the second category, I don’t blame you. But if you are considering watching this movie, then here’s what to expect.

Katniss Everdeen has beat the odds and won the Hunger Games, ticking off those jerks at the Capitol in the process. A love triangle persists, and the drum beat of revolution can be felt in poverty-stricken District 12.

If I give this movie no other props (which wasn’t the case), I will definitely concede that it was not predictable. Plot twists, masterfully executed like only Hollywood can do, left the audience satisfied. There were definitely weak points, though. I found the snide banter and teen-love goop (though it was used sparingly enough)a little annoying, personally. But where it lacked in writing it made up for in action, symbolism, raw emotion and brilliant costume and set design. The film rang with a word, though it wasn’t used, duty- towards family, people, and loved ones in the face of hardship. Self-sacrifice always warms the heart, and the film makers capitalized on it.

Jennifer Lawrence gave a generally solid performance, though at times I didn’t really buy her outbursts of crying, even though they were justified in the circumstances. While the two lover boys (played by Hemsworth and Hutcherson) were very charming, my favorites had to be the minor characters. Donald Sutherland as President Snow was a wonderful villain, and Jena Malone (Johanna) was fun to watch.

Rating According to Underground Voices:

Acting: 8/10

Direction: 10/10

Writing: 7/10

Plot: 9/10

For a total of: 8.5/10

How contrary was this movie to the most liberal of the basic Christian/family values on a scale of 1-10, you ask?

As you can glean from the title, I saw the movie Gravity today. Half the time I believe I was cringing or making very unattractive faces. It really “pulled me in” (pun not originally intended) because the acting was good, and the sense of tension and mortal terror that they were going for was achieved. I knew what was going to happen in the end, but I just couldn’t help wondering, questioning, feeling. I even got reasonably close to crying one time (and I actually don’t cry much in movies, even though I’m such a sap).

I thought it was funny how you could hear sounds when the things were crashing in space. It was not true to science, but I see why the director did it. Without the sound, something just would have been missing, because we as humans are so accustomed to sound.

And here’s the part where I, without shame, try to relate the movie I saw with my personal thoughts. Why am I such a girl? Can’t I just talk about an action movie without getting all weird?

Gravity. The laws of physics that we naively believe govern the natural world as independent entities that came about through their own means. The laws of society that can seem almost as strict.

I never really learned to use those things to my advantage. I am graceless, uncoordinated, awkward. Just today I picked up tennis again. To be fair to myself, I haven’t played in a long time. But I performed badly today, either hitting the net or hitting homers a solid portion of the time. Not that I was ever much of a pro, yet it’s the only sport that I have potential for being passable at. So I think I’ll give it a shot. Ugh, another pun.

I’ve never had good posture either. I just kind of let gravity do it’s thing to my body. Not to mention, I’m not exactly a walking embodiment of physical fitness either. I always feel like something is weighing me down, keeping me from getting in shape. I think it’s just a lack of willpower.

And with people. I want to be diplomatic, funny, and charming. But my own nervousness and fear of being dull, jerky, and uncomfortable holds me back. I let the pressure, the “gravity” hold me down instead of letting myself be grounded by it

When things aren’t going well, I like to think about heaven, an ideal world with beautiful views and no worries. I like to think that I’ll get there, Jesus will hand me a pina collada or something, and we’ll shoot the breeze in this perfect paradise with puffy clouds, islands and classical architecture. And then I’ll meet all the people who weren’t too fond of me in this life, the people that were too cool for me, the people who gave me charity, and everyone else, all the colors of the rainbow, and we’ll all hold hands and laugh together and dance around in the most beautiful harmony.

I think that my idea of heaven is a little distorted, but that’s okay. I guess I’ll just leave it up to God to decide what He likes. And it shouldn’t just be about the atmosphere there anyway, the most important thing about it is that we’re spending eternity with God. Chew on that. But what I should be focusing on now, is what I can do while I’m here on earth. And yes, there’s no guarantee that I’ll be here long, but that doesn’t mean that every second is not a gift, to be used in the best way possible. So maybe it would behoove me to try and be comfortable in my own skin, to get acclimated to this thing called gravity, and fine tune my skill at defying the norm (but in a way that is productive), while at the same time, learning to love the individuals that comprise this world that is both surprisingly orderly and excessively crazy.